


Nate Was Gonna Burn In Hell For This—The Teaching Parker Job

by crayonbreakygal



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Parker Being Parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-16 21:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8117806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal
Summary: He knew so much about the woman beside him, but not the important stuff, like where she grew up and who her first boyfriend was.  What made Parker tick?  Takes place during season two, after Sophie left, continuing on into season three.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just like Nate, I'm going to burn in hell for this too. Rare pairing here. I was going to stop after Nate and Parker were freed, but I just had to push a little bit more. I cannot believe I went there with this. Enjoy!

Nate Was Gonna Burn In Hell For This—The Teaching Parker Job

Takes place during season two, after Sophie left, continuing on into season three.

She was crying. Dammit, Nate didn’t want her to cry or feel bad or be in this situation in the first place.  It was his fault.  The plan had gone sideways, he and Parker were stuck, with no discernable way out.  Unless Hardison and Eliot could pull off a miracle, then that was it. No way was Tara going to stick her neck out on this, so the two men were all they had.

“Parker?”

“I’m ok. It’s just, I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

“Goodbye? To Hardison and Eliot?”

“No, stupid. Sophie.  I didn’t get to say goodbye and now this.”

Sophie.  The elephant in the room.  They all were sad when she left, but Parker had been the one to take it the hardest, not including himself.  Nate was crushed when she left, but understood. Then the fight on the video call, and nothing.  She wouldn’t answer his calls, wouldn’t talk to him through email. She was just gone.

“She’s coming back. I know.”

“How do you know, you idiot?  You made her leave.”

Yes, he did somehow play into the fact that she left, to find herself.  He’d always be tied up in the persona that was Sophie Devereaux. Always.

“I know that I…”

“What?  That you fucked up?  That you started drinking again?”

“What do you want me to say?” he yelled back, watching her jump as he did.

The space that they were in was small. There was only enough room for them to sit, with their legs bent. They could stand, barely. There was some kind of air coming in because he could occasionally feel a burst of it.  But no one, not even Hardison and his computers, knew where they were.  And the comms were useless.

“I don’t know. I just don’t understand, ok?”

“Neither do I.  Can we just talk about something else?”

“Like what?”

“What was your best heist?”

“Not going there.”

“Why?  Not like I’d arrest you now.”

“Because.  Trade secrets.”

Nate rolled his eyes.  It was really dark in the space, but he could see the outlines of her body, sitting directly opposite of him, legs next to his torso.  Her head was against the wall, hands at her sides.  She was tense.

“Weird question, but do you get claustrophobic at all?”

“Never.  No, wait, one time. I got over it.”

“Huh?”

“I had some kid bury me alive just to make sure I could get out of it.  Didn’t take me more than ten minutes to dig my way out.”

“Parker.  That’s insane.”

“Hey, it worked.”

She started to tap on the floor with her hands. He grabbed one, just to make the noise stop.

“No tapping.”

“I’m bored.”

He knew so much about the woman beside him, but not the important stuff, like where she grew up and who her first boyfriend was.  He knew what her favorite food was:  cereal.  He knew what her favorite color was:  green, for money.  He even knew what her favorite movie was (it changed with the seasons though):  Aladdin. 

“How old were you when you had your first kiss?”

“Nate, did you hit your head by any chance?”

“No, it’s just I know the everyday things about you, food, your favorite color. What I don’t know is you?  What made you you?”

“Uh, I think you kinda know I was fucked up from day one?”

“Were you? I don’t believe that for a minute.  You had to have good times, times that were happy.”

“Yeah, I guess.  Before I met you guys, not as much though.”

Nate smiled.  She really had blossomed since she’d joined their ragtag group of misfits who had gone from stealing millions from museums, governments, banks and rich people to helping people who needed it.

“So?”

“So, um, I think I was thirteen maybe fourteen. There was this guy, could steal cars literally in seconds flat.  I shoulda timed him. He was fast. I learned a lot from him.  He just grabbed me one night while we were lifting this sweet ride, Camaro I think.”

“What did you think?”

“The ride or the kiss, because let me tell you, the Camaro was so much better. Yuck.  Thought all you had to do was stick your tongue down someone else’s throat and they’d like it.”

With Parker, one never knew how graphic she could get. It was all or nothing with her, but he had asked.

“He so obviously had never really kissed. When I tried to slow him down, he thought that meant to cop a feel.  He walked funny for a few days after that.”

“You still hung out with him?”

“Hey, he could boost a car in seconds flat. That was enough, at least for that age.  How about you?  Any Catholic girls in uniforms?”

Oh, the stories he could tell of the Catholic girls in their short, short skirts.

“Well, since they tended to be the ones to go down on their knees.”

Oh shit.  There he went.  Too much alcohol, cooped up in a small, dark room with Parker, and there he went opening his mouth up like an idiot.

“Sorry, Parker. That was uncalled for.”

“Geez.  It’s true. There was this girl in one of the neighborhoods I lived in. Her skirt went from the right length to short in no time flat.  She had this space, behind a dumpster. I swear they paid her for every single one of them.  She tried to recruit me at one point. Wanted to branch out.”

“She wanted you to prostitute yourself?”

“Take her cut too.  I told her I wasn’t a whore and walked off.”

“And here all the girls at my school did was do that in the corner of the locker room, no charge.”

“Ok, first kiss,” Parker brought it back around, luckily for Nate since it was making him a little uncomfortable.

“Amy, in sixth grade.  Not that I didn’t have kisses before then, but this one was real.”

“Real?”

“It lasted more than two seconds.  God, she was fast. I mean, she had all the guys following her around.  Not sure why she chose me.  I was a skinny guy who was too smart for his own good.”

“I knew guys like that.  Those were the ones that you had to watch out for.”

“How so?”

“They turned into men like you.”

“Like me?”

“Go on. Finish the story.”

“She cornered me one day under the bleachers. Scared the living daylights out of me.  We must have gone at it for at least ten minutes. It was right before summer break, so I knew we wouldn’t see each other until the beginning of the next school year.”

“Let me guess.  She ignored you from then on out.”

“Well, she came back from summer break built.  Blossomed, if that term is correct. And yes, wouldn’t give me the time of day.  See, she kissed every single boy in sixth grade.  I was the last one.”

“Oh, you got picked last?”

“Yep.”

“Bummer.  No one ever picked me too.  They were kinda scared of me.  The girls didn’t know what to do with me and the guys thought I’d beat them at everything.”

“Sounds lonely.”

“It was.”

He laced her fingers with his. “We’re here now.  I’d pick you any time.  Would have if you went to my school. Except you’re younger, so.”

“Yeah. Can you imagine what we would have been like if we went to school together?”

“The geek, the skinny guy, the crazy girl.”

“Sophie and Eliot would never have spoken to us.”

“Probably.”

“I bet that Sophie was the prettiest girl in school.”

“She’ll never confess that.”

“Nate?”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you rubbing my palm? I mean, it’s ok and all.”

He jerked his hand back from hers.  He hadn’t even realized he had started doing that, it was just a habit he had started with Sophie to sooth her when she was distressed.  Instead of sinking back away from him, Parker grabbed his hand back.

“I said it’s ok.  We both have issues with being touched. Maybe if we practice?”

“Did I tell you that I finally kissed Amy again?”

“No way. What happened?”

“Senior year. I finally was sort of popular.  Helps to play a sport that you’re good at.”

“What sport?”

“Basketball.  Well, she comes up to me, still wouldn’t give me the time of day, until the night we won the state championship.”

“That little slut.”

Nate laughed a little because he could tell that Parker knew where this was going.

“I had a girlfriend, but she dumped me. Something about, I don’t know, being too serious.”

“Yeah, not like Nate is ever serious.”  He squeezed her hand to warn her.  “Well, nothing’s changed. Go ahead. I wanna hear what happened.”

“So, she starts telling me how great it was that we won. Everyone is partying because we’re at Tony’s house.  He was the captain of the team.  She pulls me over into a corner, obviously had too much to drink, but I did too.  She sticks her tongue down my throat before I can even say anything.  Then I realized she wasn’t that good a kisser. All that time and I thought I was doing it wrong.”

“Ok, but I thought that’s kinda what you do. Right?”

“Uh, Parker.  I almost gagged. So I felt her up then walked away.”

“Oh, you are awful.”

“At least I got that from it.”

There was a silence for a little while, with Parker breathing and Nate still rubbing Parker’s palm.

“What do you mean, that’s kinda how you do it?”

“I just, well, not like I’ve had all that much opportunity to practice.”

Nate stopped rubbing her palm. Oh no, territory he really did not want to get into.  Maybe he’d tell her to defer to one of the younger members, particularly Hardison, who seemed to have a crush on her.

“Oh.  You ever have a boyfriend?”

“Not really.  If you mean, have I had sex, then yes.”

“Parker, maybe this isn’t the time.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean. I mean…”

“It’s ok. Not fair to you. Not having a normal upbringing, you didn’t get to go through these things in your teens, test them out.”

“How many people have you kissed?”

He sighed, realizing that if he didn’t answer her, then she push and press and come out with something outrageous when the guys were around.

“I don’t know.  Not sure I’ve ever counted.”

“Two, no three.”

“Three guys?”

“Well, one was a girl. So two guys and one girl. They kinda sucked at it.  I just kept thinking it was gonna get better.”

“Twelve. I think.  If I remember correctly.  I don’t have that much experience, mind you.”

“You were married.  That counts a lot.”

“Not sure about that. You’d have to ask Eliot about the merits of kissing plenty of partners.”

“Who cares about him?”

“Is there something you want to tell me?”

“No. It’s just everyone else gets to kiss and I don’t. Hell, even you got to kiss Sophie.”

Kiss Sophie? Did Parker realize he’d only done it once? Of course, it was hot and didn’t stop for at least ten minutes and he had to gently push her off, telling her that he was married and it couldn’t continue.

“Well, there’s, um…”

“What?  You didn’t kiss her?  I did, once.”

Nate almost choked.  “Huh?”

“Oh, get over yourself. It was just a peck. Friendship kiss.  I wanted more because she has soft lips. So what was she like?”

Oh god, she wanted to know what it was like kissing Sophie Devereaux?  How could he describe one of the most intense, hottest kisses in his lifetime?

“Well, it was, it was good.”

If Parker could see his face, she’d see that he was blushing and getting more uncomfortable as he went along.

“Liar.”

“Why would I lie?”

“I can tell. Your voice. You all of a sudden got really tense. My eyes work better than yours in low light. She was good, wasn’t she?”

“Better than good.”

“See. I’ve never experienced that before.”

“Well, maybe if you at some point have a boyfriend, then you could practice.”

He winced as he said that.  As advice went, it was pretty lame.

“Who would want to go out with me?  I’m crazy, remember?”

“I’m not so sure that’s true. You’re unique.”

“I like that. Unique. Still doesn’t answer my question.”

Now she was rubbing his hand with her slender fingers. It was getting much warmer in the tiny space.  Before he could yank his hand back, she pulled closer to him.

“Nate?”

“Parker?”

“I was wondering.”

“No.”

“Geez.”

“Oh, fuck it.”

It was kind of hard to find her lips in the dark, but he finally did.   Now he could see why she didn’t have much experience.  She didn’t know the first thing about kissing. She didn’t know how to angle her head, how much pressure to place, anything.  She was not kidding when she said she didn’t know.

“See, I, I can’t.”

“Calm down. Just follow my lead.”

And he knew he’d burn in hell for this. She was so much, so much younger than he was.  Her small hands tangled in his hair as he turned her head just slightly. Softening this kiss, he felt as she got the hang of it, almost making him moan.  It had been so long since he’d actually had someone else kiss him. The aborted kiss in the cemetery with Sophie still haunted his dreams.  As he traced her lips with his tongue, she gasped out, opening up just slightly. Deepening the kiss, he gently probed, to make sure she was ok with what he was doing.  Opening up just a little more, he could feel her hands tightening on his scalp. The tip of her tongue lightly touched his, sending chills up and down his spine. 

She tasted sweet, like the cereal she’d eaten only a few hours before, chocolate that she’d had in the van on the way over, something else he couldn’t quite place. Cinnamon. That’s what it was.

As she slowly pulled away, he could feel her hands now on his face, tracing his lips with her fingers. He could feel the calluses on them.

“Parker, we should, maybe we should stop.”

“So that’s what it’s supposed to feel like.”

Instead of stopping, she dove in for another.  It was all Nate could do to keep up. She was a very quick study. 

“Nate, Nate, Nate. We got ya. Hold on. Parker.  Just, we’re almost there.”

Hardison.  His brain clicked back on now. 

“Ok?” he whispered.

“Yep. Thanks for the tips. You’ve always been the best teacher.”

“Tips?  Ok, just wait a second. We’re almost through,” Eliot joined in.

“Showing her some tricks of the trade.”

Parker snorted.

“Tricks? I got better tricks than that.”

The light shown in once Eliot was through, blinding them.  He still held Parker’s hand, but she didn’t jerk away.

“Let’s go. Times a wasting.”

It didn’t take long for Eliot to lead them out into the sunshine.  The con was blown, but they got back on track once Tara was able to infiltrate and solved their problems.

After Sophie left, he never thought he’d actually feel anything other than remorse.  Now he felt safe, like he could talk to someone.  Then the psychic tried to cold read Parker and he almost lost it.  Her tears again made his heart hurt.  He found her on the roof of the apartment building that night, looking off into the distance.

“Does it ever get any easier?”

He thought he was being quiet, checking up on her to make sure she was alright.

“What do you mean?”

“Anything.  Everything.  You.  Me. Sophie.  I want her to come back.  I want you to stop drinking.  I want Hardison to quit being an ass and ask me out.  I want Eliot to stop blaming himself for everything that goes wrong.  I want Tara to, wait, not sure how to fill in that blank.”

Nate chuckled a little at that. He had been drinking too much, had been taking more and more risks.

“Would you pull me back, if I went over the line?”

“Please. Totally.  I want Nate Ford back. The guy who told us we could be good guys.”

She looked so innocent and free standing there with the sun going down behind her back.  Putting her head on his chest, she just stood there as he held her hand, just like he did a few months before.

“You are a good guy. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.  It’s not your fault.”

“I know. Just as it’s not your fault that Sophie left.”

As she leaned closer into him, he had to pull back.

“Parker, no kissing.”

“Dammit, Nate. I hate you,” she kidded him.

“Join the club.”

Wait?  There’s a club?”

“Sophie’s a charter member.  Maggie too.”

“They don’t hate you.  Possibly are annoyed with you.  So am I because you won’t practice with me.”

“It doesn’t mean anything, to, um, you know.”

“You can’t even say it.  Kiss you? Hell no. You’re too old.  Kinda cute though.”

He raised his head and shook it, realizing that conversations with her were challenging at best.  Before he could leave, she wouldn’t take no for an answer and pulled him to her, giving him a gentle kiss.

 

Months later, while he lay in the hospital, he dreamed about that kiss. He also dreamed about Sophie’s kiss on that boat, but that was another issue he really hadn’t wanted to deal with. 

“Still a good kisser, isn’t she?” she whispered in his ear one night.

“Parker?”

“Just checking on you. Sophie’s still pissed, so she wouldn’t come.  And going through those vents?  Not her style.”

“And yes, still a good kisser.”

“We’ll get you out of here.”

“I know.  No breaking the law though.”

“Dammit, Nate.”

Instead of kissing him, she gave him a peck on the cheek.

“Girlfriend’s back.  No macking on the boyfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Sure, you keep thinking that.”

He would keep thinking that. And also realize that Parker had his back. He’d love her for that forever.

 

A few months after breaking out of prison, Sophie pulled Nate aside, wanting to ask him a question. The others disappeared, probably to sulk from the last con not being finished yet.  It had not gone well, but Nate assured them they’d fix it.

“Wanna tell me what’s up?”

“With the con?  If we go in at it this way…”

“Nate, not even close.”

“Sorry?”

She sat down next to him at the dining room table, serious look on her face.

“It’s Parker.  She seems to think that you told her to do something. And now that’s she’s done it…”

“Done what?  She did what she was supposed to do on this one, which was waiting for the mark to leave.”

“That is not what I am talking about.”

She touched his arm. He looked down at their contact, but wasn’t willing to tell her about the touching. Her hand was warm against his white shirt, heat seeping through, making him warm in other places.

“Then why don’t we discuss this tomorrow.  I have a lot of work to do.”

Instead of taking the hint and walking away, Sophie pushed herself forward and kissed him.  Coming up for air, she licked her lips, then sat back down in her seat next to him.

“Um, Soph. Wanna clue me in?  What does this have to do with Parker?”

His mind was all jumbled from the con, the mark, the failure, and possibly drinking too much a few minutes ago, thinking it might help to be fortified for the long night ahead of him.

“I was just wondering where she learned something.  Now I know.”

“Learned what?” he asked.

“Your tongue,” she said into his ear.  He shivered.

“My tongue? What?  What does that have to do with Parker?”  The realization hit him square in the face.  “Did you, did you and Parker perhaps?”

“You remember when you told us that the mark liked to watch?  Well, he did.  And then it all went to hell.  The fact that it went to hell had nothing to do with Parker, but that’s beside the point.”

“So what’s your point?”

He knew exactly what her point was, he just didn’t want her to come to the same conclusion.

“I’ll let you have your little secret, for now.  Just remember.”

“Remember what?”

“I was the one to teach you that trick.”

“What trick was that, Sophie?”

“Cheeky bastard.”

“Did you happen to teach it to someone else, whatever it might be?”

Sophie’s cheeks colored, like she was remembering something.

“I have to go.”

Instead of letting her go, he wanted her to confess what she was thinking.

“You did, didn’t you?”

“Just as you have your secrets, I have mine.  Sorry to have bothered you.”

“Oh, sorry. I thought that Sophie had left.  Just picking up my jacket.”

Sophie wouldn’t look Eliot’s way. That answered Nate’s question. Crossing his arms over his chest, he stood there, knowing now this might not have anything to do with Parker and his kiss in that shaft a year ago.

“Bye,” Eliot hurriedly said.  “Don’t want to be around when whatever shit hits the fan here.”

“Ok, so you blame me for something you taught Eliot?”

“I did not teach him a thing,” she blurted out.

“I didn’t teach Parker a thing either.”

“We’ll just forget this ever happened then.”

Just as Sophie started to grab her things, Nate stayed her with a hand.  “Did she kiss you?”

“Not telling.  Just like you wouldn’t tell me if you kissed Eliot.”

“What the hell? Are you crazy? It was just Parker, ok. She’d never been kissed before.”

“Now was that so hard to do.”

“It didn’t mean anything.”

“I’m sure it didn’t.”

Backing her up against the counter, he pinned her there, looking down into her brown eyes, sparkling in the light coming in from outside.

“Now this, I do mean,” as he dove in for a kiss.

 

“See, told you it would work.”

“Parker, manipulating them into kissing is not nice,” Eliot told her.

“I thought if I made her jealous, or him, then it would happen. I was right. Pay up.”

“Pay up?  Do I have to?”

Standing on her toes, she brushed her lips against his. “Definitely.”

“Ok, I guess if I have to,” he said as he pulled her against him.


End file.
